


Splitting the Difference

by Galadriel1010



Series: Birthday Prompts [16]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: Blue Hawke (Dragon Age), Canon Compliant, M/M, Self-Reflection, Soulmates, dwarven thology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:34:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26031964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galadriel1010/pseuds/Galadriel1010
Summary: Canon compliant: Soulmates - Hawke reflects on his relationship with Anders, and struggles to explain a concept that's unfamiliar to the Chantry or any faith he's known. Thankfully, Bodahn comes to the rescue
Relationships: Anders/Male Hawke
Series: Birthday Prompts [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862779
Kudos: 6





	Splitting the Difference

**Author's Note:**

> ETA Author's Note: I stretched 'canon compliant' a bit here, but Varric does say that if Hawke and his LI don't tell him what happened he'll just make it up, and my Hawke would absolutely not have told him, so... Still compliant, but Varric is a storyteller.

There are some people who you meet and have immediately known all your life, like they simply belong there. When people asked Ricard when he and Anders met he could give them the precise date, the location, the exact words Anders said to him when he walked through the door, but they all felt like lies, because had there ever actually been a time Before? When Varric asked him when Anders moved in, for that ridiculous story he was writing, he’d had no answer because he couldn’t comprehend the question. Of course he knew when they bought the Estate, when they finally cleared it out enough for him to stay there, when the furniture arrived and Leandra moved up, and that between him getting the deeds and Leandra moving in Anders had acquired a key and a side of the bed and a chair in the sitting room. But surely they’d been living together longer than that? Surely Anders had just always been there, in a chair across from Ric, with his worn boots resting as close to the fire as he dared and a book in his lap?

The Chantry was unhelpfully silent on the subject of relationships. He’d even resorted to asking Sebastian, who assured him that the Chantry did not oppose his relationship with Anders so long as they were loyal to each other for life, which had been Ric’s intention but not at all what he was asking. He couldn’t ask Fenris, Merrill had said something about trees, Isabela had looked at him blankly, and Varric had just asked him if he could borrow the idea for a book.

Ric had said no, very firmly, refused to be drawn on the subject of sweeping, and retreated to the estate to think about it. He wished Bethany was about. She always knew the right thing to say, even if it wasn’t the right answer.

He was staring moodily into the fire when Bodahn bustled in, arms full with a box of vegetables from the market. The chatter between him and Orinna washed over Ric, and it took him a while to realise that it had stopped and Bodahn was standing awkwardly at the edge of the settee, trying to get his attention. “Sorry, Bodahn. I was miles away.”

“Anything the matter, serah? Only Orinna is wondering when Warden Anders will be back from his clinic, and if you’re waiting for him for dinner? Your mother is dining with the du Launcets, you remember.”

He smiled ruefully. “Lucky her. No, I’m not sure when Anders is planning to be back, but if he’s not back by the eight bell I’ll take something down to him.”

Bodahn bowed. “Alright, Serah Hawke. I’ll let Orinna know that. Is there anything else I could do for you?”

“Actually…” He looked back into the fire. “You’re married, aren’t you?”

“Oh yes, Serah, to a fine woman!” He paused and cleared his throat. “She lives in Denerim still. We were planning on her moving here to join me, what with the Blight and all, but things here have been unsettled and no mistake, and with the Blight and King Endrin on the throne back in Orzammar, business in Denerim is actually very good right now.”

He hummed thoughtfully. “You’re a… traditional dwarf, aren’t you? I mean, you aren’t Andrastian.”

“No, I’m not, and I don’t intend to be. I’ve had this conversation with your Prince Sebastian.”

“I very much doubt it,” Ric laughed. He sat back at last and looked up at Bodahn, which was an unusual experience. “Do your people have any beliefs about people… belonging together? People who are just…” Ric sighed and gestured vaguely. “You know?”

Bodahn grinned at him and came round to sit on the other end of the settee. “Oh yes, Serah. You’re thinking about you and Warden Anders, yes? Well, it could be, although I doubt it’s the same for you humans as it is for us. The Shaperate says that sometimes we’re like geodes or fossils, split in two.”

“I don’t know what either of those is.”

“And I’m not surprised you don’t! They’re highly prized in some quarters, though. You get these stones, you see, about so big usually, and if you find the Faultline just right and hit them…” He demonstrated the action of hitting something sharply with a small hammer and Ric nodded like he understood. “They break apart, and inside you find treasures. And some people are like that.”

Ric nodded again, then sighed. “No, I’m sorry, I’m not following.”

Bodahn scratched his head. “Well you see… sometimes it’s a fish.”

“A fish?”

“Yes. Or a shell! You tap it…” He mimed the action again. “And it splits apart and you have the two halves, one in each hand. And then you put them back together and you can barely see the crack. But they’re two halves, mirrored.”

Ric was sure that comprehension was on the verge of dawning. “So they were one thing, but you hit them with a hammer and they become two?”

“Exactly.” Bodahn looked pleased with himself. “There’s some very tragic stories written about them. I could probably get you a copy of one or two if you liked.”

“Um… thank you, but that’s alright. Although if you could get me one of those…” He mimicked Bodahn’s impression of hitting the rock. “I think that might help me to understand.”

“Of course, Serah Hawke. I’ll be able to find one in the Merchants’ Guild, I’m sure.” He got to his feet and clapped his hands. “I hope that’s helped, Serah. Now I’m going to go and help Orina get everything ready for dinner. We’ll have it ready for you to take down to Warden Anders.”

Ric smiled back at him, and with that was left to his own devices to puzzle through this strange new way of thinking about people.


End file.
